South Korea plans a fund to compensate victims of forced labor
South Korea’s Forced Labor Victim Compensation Planning Fund has received an initial donation from a Korean steel producer. But they will have to wait for the Japanese government to drop its demands for money from companies that allegedly used forced labor.
Initial donations from steel producer POSCO
South Korea’s major steelmaker has shaken up the world of government-sponsored research and development by donating the first million dollars to the government’s Institute of Applied Science to study the effects of forced labor in the country. In turn, the Ministry of Employment and Labor tasked POSCO with creating a program to help foreign workers find work and maintain job security. As of March, the company employed a whopping 17,000 foreign nationals — roughly one-third of its workforce. Despite the above measures, most South Korean workers still bear the brunt of the country’s labor shortage.
Likewise, the older gender hasn’t really stepped up its game, with more than a third of all female employees having to take out loans to cover maternity leave costs. Although the government has been more than willing to provide reproductive health services to survivors of sexual violence, there is no doubt that the specter of gender inequality remains an obstacle to achieving economic parity. The government also quickly admitted that there is still a long way to go in solving this problem, both from a policy perspective and in practice.
While initial government donations are unlikely to change the course of history, the government’s commitment to solving this problem is certainly a step in the right direction.
Japan’s foreign ministry claims wartime labor issues with South Korea have been “completely and finally resolved”
A recent decision by South Korea’s Supreme Court to pay compensation to Korean wartime workers has led to an intense diplomatic row between Japan and Seoul. The court ordered Japanese steel producer Nippon Steel & Sumo Metal to pay $83,534 to 32 plaintiffs.
In addition, the court ordered Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to pay 100 million won to 32 plaintiffs. However, the company refused to comply with the decision.
During the war, the Japanese government forced hundreds of thousands of Koreans to work in factories and mines. They were also recruited into military brothels. The United Nations called the situation a violation of human rights.
But some people in South Korea believe Japan should apologize and make restitution. One person, Yang Geum-deok, wrote a letter to the South Korean government. She was 14 years old when she was sent to work at the Mitsubishi aircraft factory.
The Japanese government insists that the issue has been resolved by bilateral agreements. The South Korean side says it is still exploring ways to improve relations.
The Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is considering a compensation plan for the victims. It aims to establish a fund of up to 30 billion won to pay aid to 300 victims. This would be financed by a public foundation.
Japan plans to impose a condition on the South Korean fund to give up claims on money from companies
The Japanese and South Korean governments are discussing the creation of a fund to compensate former Korean workers during the war. Although the plan is not without controversy, the government has accepted donations from local companies.
There is much more to a compensation plan than meets the eye. To begin with, the money would be paid in cash, not in kind. It also won’t come from companies involved in forced labor. That’s a big deal, as Japanese utilities struggle to restart nuclear plants despite public opposition.
A public hearing on the plan was held on Thursday. While the plan is a sign of the Korean government’s efforts to improve ties with Tokyo, it has sparked a deafening outcry from victims’ groups and activists.
For example, there was a massive, two-week blockade of the gas conditioning plant in Hela province. Almost a month after the protests, the government said it would lift the blockade.
But the compensation plan is not the only thing the Korean and Japanese governments are considering. The South Korean government is also considering revamping long-term takeover contracts to make them more attractive to investors.
And if you’re still not convinced, consider that Japan is preparing to challenge the legality of clauses in LNG contracts. If successful, it could have significant implications for Australian manufacturers.
South Korean officials are considering creating a domestic fund to compensate Koreans enslaved by Japanese companies before the end of World War II, as they desperately try to mend relations with Tokyo that have soured in recent years over historic grievances.
The plan, revealed on Thursday during a public hearing organized by Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, drew fierce criticism from victims and their legal representatives, who demanded that compensation come from Japan.
Relations between Seoul and Tokyo have been strained since South Korea’s Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings in 2018 and ordered Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to pay compensation to Korean forced laborers.
The companies have refused to comply with the orders, and prosecutors have responded by taking legal steps aimed at forcing the companies to sell their local assets to secure compensation, a process South Korean officials fear could fuel further rifts between Seoul and Tokyo. The victims also demanded an apology from the Japanese companies for their suffering.
Ties between America’s Asian allies have long been complicated by grievances related to Japan’s brutal rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, when hundreds of thousands of Koreans were mobilized as forced laborers for Japanese companies or sex slaves in Tokyo’s wartime brothels.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative who took office in May, has been eager to improve ties with Japan as they pursue stronger trilateral security cooperation with Washington in light of the growing North Korean nuclear threat.
He met Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in November in Cambodia for the first bilateral summit between the countries in three years, where they expressed a commitment to quickly resolve their “outstanding” issues, clearly referring to the forced labor dispute.
During a public hearing Thursday in the National Assembly, South Korean Foreign Ministry official Seo Min-jung said her government’s priority was to arrange payments as quickly as possible, noting that many victims of forced labor are already dead and most of the known survivors are in their 90s. -have.
She said it would be “impossible” to get Japanese companies to apologize on behalf of the wider issue of forced labour, which has fueled mutual frustrations between the countries for decades.
“It would be important for Japan to sincerely maintain and inherit the touching expressions of apology and remorse it has already expressed in the past,” said Seo, director of Asia-Pacific affairs at the ministry.
Seo said the payments could likely be made by the Seoul-based Empire of Japan’s Forced Mobilization Victims Foundation. Shim Kyu-sun, chairman of the foundation, said the payments could finance South Korean companies that benefited from Japanese economic aid when the countries normalized ties in the 1960s, including steel giant POSCO.
“Japanese companies have scaled back much of their economic activities in South Korea and withdrawn (many of their) assets, so it is not even clear whether the liquidation process would be sufficient to provide compensation to the plaintiffs,” Seo said.
She said government officials planned to meet in person with the victims and their family members to explain the payment plans and seek their consent.
Lim Jae-sung, a lawyer who represented the plaintiffs in the 2018 rulings, accused the government of pushing ahead with a settlement that over-aligned Japan’s position while ignoring the voices of victims.
“It appears that the South Korean government’s finalized plan is to use money from South Korean companies such as POSCO to allow the Imperial Japan Forced Mobilization Victims Foundation to eliminate the rights of forced labor victims to claim,” Lim said. “Japan is not taking any burden at all.”
The 2018 rulings ordered Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi to provide about 100 million to 150 million won ($80,000 to $120,000) each to 15 plaintiffs, including survivors and relatives of deceased victims.
Lim said the amount of damages finalized by the courts could eventually exceed 15 billion won ($12 million), given that similar cases are still pending.
“Are you planning to raise funds in the amount of 15 billion won entirely from the money of South Korean companies?” Lim questioned Seo, accusing the government of rushing toward a settlement that would not be supported by the victims or the general South Korean public.
The hearing was interrupted several times by angry spectators. Some shouted “traitor” at Korea University politics professor Park Hong-kyu, who participated as a panelist, after he said it was unrealistic to expect Japan to apologize and participate in the fund.
A Foreign Ministry official, who requested anonymity during a press briefing, said the plan presented during the hearing would not necessarily be a finalized proposal from Seoul to Tokyo.
“Today’s (hearing) was not about announcing the final government plan, but about getting opinions from different groups and using this as an opportunity to speed up talks with Japan,” the official said.
Japan insists that all issues of war reparations were settled by a 1965 accord that normalized relations between the two nations, which was accompanied by hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid and loans from Tokyo to Seoul.
Japan reacted strongly after the South Korean rulings in 2018, then in 2019 imposed export controls on chemicals key to South Korea’s semiconductor industry, citing a deterioration in trust between the countries.
Seoul has accused Tokyo of arms trade and has even threatened to terminate the military intelligence sharing agreement with Tokyo, which has been the main symbol of its trilateral security cooperation with Washington. South Korea eventually caved and kept the deal under pressure from the Trump administration.
Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries refused to comply with the 2018 rulings and appealed again to the Supreme Court after lower courts ordered them to sell off their local assets to compensate the plaintiffs.
The Supreme Court has yet to make a decision on whether to allow the liquidation of the company’s assets to continue.
